Wednesday 5 September 2012

Small Talk



My father can talk to anyone, from the bus conductor to a fellow passenger in the auto , he can ask terribly impertinent questions without the slightest hint of awkwardness.

The other day I went to buy vegetables with my father, who insists on picking them one by one, once they pass his scrutiny, and putting them in the basket. The veggie-seller was distracted and he was about to give us someone else's vegetables;of course my father did not let that happen and said "egulo amar peyaaj noy...ki korcho? tomar ki hoyeche?" (these are not my onions...what are you doing? what has happened to you?) The veggie-seller then narrated a long tale of how the light in his stall wasn't working, he had to get up and fix it so many times etc. I was getting annoyed. Now I realise that at the mall from where I at times buy my fancy stuff like "soy milk" :P , no such conversations happen ... those guys are better dressed and if I hover in front of a shelf for long, they just come and mumble annoying things - "can I help you?" ... "this is good ma'm" ...yes I do prefer that rambling veggie-seller than the pushy, robotic, sales-people at the malls.



1 comment:

Simantini Sinha said...

You have made your parents and didima household names :D Write some more about them the next time, will you?